Patrick03

I'm looking for tips on asking questions and picking a body & paint shop. I'll be taking my car in for minor fiberglass work (a few cracks in some typical areas) and complete repaint. The car has been painted once before. I get that estimates are hard for body shops to give as they have no idea what the condition of the underlying fiberglass is, but when I took my car to a couple shops two years ago, estimates were all over the map.

So, what kinds of things should I be asking when I talk to these shops? One shop wanted to pull the body, is that really necessary? I had the body off over the winter and all the stuff I wanted to do with the body off got done.

All input welcome. I'm in SE Michigan if anyone has shop recommendations.

Thanks,
Patrick

elwood13

Two of mine were consistent based off of pictures. The third was ten grand higher and told me how the gel coat would have to be redone and my door hinges were bad. Needless to say I skipped him. All the other painters I was referred to did not want to do a job this big. The overpriced one and the other one wanted the body on and the painter I ended up with didn’t care. Since the top two in my search only do corvettes, they both close to each other. The difference was how they wanted to be paid and whether the body was on or off. The one I chose actually gave a typical breakdown sheet of the cost. Of course he said that was an average and any changes I did or unseen damage as well as type of paint job would change this guesstimate. He charged me $600 to remove and reinstall the body. Thought that was worth it as I don’t have to deal with a body dolly or risk screwing up the paint job on reinstall. Having the breakdown sheet also showed me what I could do myself and save some money. I think I will end up being 1-4K over the high end of the ballpark quote but I did change things and having him install all the glass.

Good luck.

61corv

Keep looking! I found a great guy here in Nebraska who wanted to do the work, He gave me a fair price in writing and didn't charge more. No matter how much a pain some things were for him. I was able to stop by anytime too. But he did go over the time frame and I did expect that... He said he had to get in other jobs to keep the cash flowing for his employees. ( replacing and painting bumpers. ) I understood that going in so a few weeks wasn't a big deal for me. In the end a made a friend who I trust and he has done touch up work on my wife's mercedes, my aunts jeep, and my trucks. Six month later I found a small scratch that he retouched for free.

cv67

See cars that are done, talk to the owners
Dont let them get money ahead and works behind
Change order in writing for EVERYthing.

When you start hearing stories and excuses pull the car period.

Nowhere Man

Never judge the quality of their work from the last couple of years. Ask to see how a car they done ten years or so ago and see how it held up.

Revette

Hopefully, you’re not the first person in your area to have a fiberglass car restored. If nothing else, check with a local Corvette Club for names that would be recommended. If your local club has been around for a bit they should have an idea about who they think would do quality work.

CorvetteMikeB

Get it in writing with a "Firm Price" Period! Condition of the body whether metal or fiberglass is part of the territory. Don't get caught in the "Hype" its all BS.

gbvette62

Take it to a Corvette or collector car restoration shop, not a body shop.

Body shops are not in business to do paint jobs, or restore cars. Body shops are in business to repair damaged cars, and they take priority. Body shops are under pressure from car owners and insurance companies to turn around damaged cars in a hurry. Paint jobs are just filler work, for when they have down time in the shop. Body shops often have a lot of turn over of employees, so you often have no idea who's working on your car, or what their skill level is. That's not to say that people haven't had success dealing with a regular body shop, but a lot have had issues. There have been quite a few horror stories in the past, by people you've had trouble with body shops trying to do restoration work, here on the Forum.

Roger Walling

When you are pricing anything. good is $1. Much better is $2. Perfect is $10.
The problem is, in whose eyes are the specifications in?

If you want just a paint job and the 2 noticed cracks fixed, any shop can give you a fixed price. (as long as the paint does not start flaking or not feather edging when sanding.)
Re painting can always be subject to many different problems.
If you want any areas repaired that are not visible now, that is a whole different ball of wax.

csherman

First what year is the car
The correct way is to strip the car down to bare glass and see what is causing the cracks and address them
you will not get a "Firm Price" - there are so many unknowns until the car is stripped
Also what are you looking for ? Driver? Show car ? NCRS? Trailer Queen? Pebble Beach?

I like the body off
Easier to do repairs - no overspray on the chassis or engine - nice and clean.
Bodies are easy to take on and off.

Agree - you want a Corvette Shop - not a body shop
body shops focus on collision work and production work !!!!
Restoration work is not their focus

Frankie the Fink

Any shop that agrees to do a quality paint job on a 60 year old car with any "unknowns" hidden under layers of paint:

1) Doesn't know what they're doing, or,
2) Plans to do a 1/2 azz job, or,
3) Has padded the estimate to cover the unknowns to an eye-watering degree, or,
4) Plans to nickel and dime you to death and re-negotiate the job every time they find unknown issues...

CorvetteMikeB

I guess times have changed. My uncle was an owner of a paint body shop in the 1960's and owned it for 40 years before retiring. He had a price range for painting each vehicle depending on size and condition. He use to tell his customers a "job is a job"and expecting the unknown is part of that job. Working on the customer's body/paint took longer for some cars than others he would say. He would stick to those "firm prices" and was known for his "honesty in the business." He was always busy and must have done ok since he put four kids through college and retired in Hawaii.

Frankie the Fink

I suspect that would be my option #3 above....anybody that's done firm-fixed contacts knows that the burden of risk is on the vendor...if he finds out the job is bigger than he originally scoped it, then he has to "eat" the extra expense... unless he's already factored a substantial premium into his price model for the unexpected. There is no other way to make money in this paradigm on jobs that can harbor hidden work.

Not much to debate as this is the definition of a "firm-fixed" contract...and I've been on both ends of them on major IT contracts....and gone to many, boring classes on the topic.

Patrick03

Thanks for the input everyone! Good info here. My car is a '64. And yes, I'll be primarily looking at Corvette restoration shops. Keep the ideas coming. I'm still getting my car back together from the body off. Hope to be driving it soon to get some quotes.


Patrick

1Sweet66

I had a little mishap with my '71 a year or so ago. Had a BFG front tire delaminate and caused some fiberglass damage. Paint on this car is around an 8+ and has been for about 20 yrs. Original shop that did the work years ago is no longer around.
I had some work done on my wife's Mercedes, pearl white metallic in color, by a high end shop and they did an excellent job on that car. Really really hard to tell the repair from factory panels and paint. They would not touch the older car. Bummer, They did give me a lead on a resto shop & I went to visit them. Place was a mess, tools and parts all over the place. They were working on a gen1 Camaro and using a Nova next to it basically as a work bench. Walked right out. Glad I saw that up front.
My Hagerty adjuster actually gave me a lead on a shop that he has had customers say positive things about. He can't come out and say who or where you should get your car fixed at but a recommendation is a recommendation. Went to check they out. Place was spotless, well organized and had a really good conversation with the owner and main body/paint man. Low volume, low overhead but great work. Very happy with the results.
All in all, like mentioned above, go out and see the shops. Talk to the guys who will be working on the car. Gut feeling tells me yes or no.
If you have classic insurance, Hagerty/Grundy.... see if they have a recommendation. If anything it gives you one more shop to check out.

John S 1961

So, what kinds of things should I be asking when I talk to these shops?

Talk is cheap. Good old fashioned legwork is what it takes. Visit shows and get owners reccomendations. State your budget. Visit each shop Over a few weeks to see how work moves in and goes out. Ask dub. You will pay for good work. Great deals are a big risk. Fair pricing is asgood as it gets. Labor costs. Have a "should cost" in mind.

jimmies63

I’ve had two corvettes stripped and painted a 63 and a 68. The 63 was done by a leading corvette restoration shop and was likely close to 20k all in. The 68 was ‘$5k+ paint’ in a guys garage. The 68 is fine. I did have a lot of clean up and overspray and some of the painting down real low is questionable, but I am happy for the price.

The 63 is stunning and the guy told me something very important related to the price. He showed me how the previous strip and repaint rounded the fiberglass edges on the fenders and belt line and of course the coupe split. Even just slightly on some. He took the time to rebuild all the edges so they are crisp and sharp. Naturally I always notice it now, on my cars and others, and the 63 is much more ‘new’ looking than the 68.

So so I would advise only a real corvette shop that understands these fine points, or if you are working on price, at least talk edge finishing with the body man.

CorvetteMikeB

His belief was all cars bodies will need bondo and some patching involved. Some cars more than others. It was all part of the job. He told me to fix dents and chrome molding replacement was extra. His firm price only was different if the panel needed to be replaced do to too much rust.

I do remember hearing him say that the older the car, the more likely the paint job would cost more do to past experiences with a certain model of car or truck.

keith ragan

Here is how we approach it. We do a as seen 3 phase bid.
Phase 1 is the paint striping process, this price is fixed as you can see what needs to be done
Phase 2 is the body work, this part of the bid is the only part that is up for price changes. We bid it on what we could see with the paint still on the car. prior poor repairs or even in some cases the damage is not as bad as it looked with paint on the car changes the price. We get together and look the car over and come to a adjusted price.
Phase 3 is the prime.paint and polish stage which is in a fixed price from the original bid.
We feel this is the only fair way for both parties. During the process we give time periods for each stage to ensure the project moves along at a good pace.

Frankie the Fink

Makes perfect sense and sound fair to all concerned...

I guess I'm not as "fizzed up" about a spotless shop; the cleanliness zealots would have bolted out of the shop that rebuilt and painted my '63. Cars are packed in tightly, all in varying stages of restoration with tools all around and shelves full of parts and materials... I'd worry more about "end results" from customers that have had work done by the shop...and how passionate the workers are about the cars they deal with. My shop's staff was excited and took extra effort in meticulously repairing my car.... I could walk into the place any day, any time and the owner had no objection and would take the time to walk me through the current status, any issues and future projected work...